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STORY: A United Nations agency has declared that the border between the United States and Mexico is the world's deadliest land route for migrants, documenting at least 686 people dead or missing on the frontier last year alone.

But it says the true number could be much higher.

This was Paul Dillon, a spokesperson for the the UN's International Organization for Migration, in Geneva:

"These figures represent the lowest estimates available as many more deaths are likely to have gone unrecorded due to lack of data from official sources. The alarming figures are a stark reminder of the need for decisive action to create regular, legal migration pathways. The data shows that deaths and disappearances on the US-Mexico border decreased by 8 per cent from the previous year, however, the 2022 figure, is likely higher due to missing official data, including information from the Texas border county coroner's offices and the Mexican search and rescue agency.”

US border officials say migrants have died from heat stroke in the desert's summer heat, and hypothermia in winter. Many others go missing.

The numbers along the border account for almost half of the over 1,400 migrant deaths or disappearances documented in the entirety of the Americas last year.

That figure includes water routes, not just overland. The world's worst migration region overall is the Mediterranean, according to the UN, with over 2,400 dead or missing in the same period.